Woman Shot In Face, Former Boyfriend Held

December 2, 1986|By John J. Glisch and Ron Patrizio of The Sentinel Staff

MERRITT ISLAND — A Cocoa Beach woman was seriously injured Monday when she was shot in the face at point-blank range in the parking lot of a fitness club, police said.

An ex-boyfriend of the victim was arrested seconds later by two Brevard County deputy sheriffs who were driving past the Atlantic Nautilus fitness center on Courtenay Parkway and saw the shooting.

Ava D. Henry, 59, of 3165 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach, was taken to Wuesthoff Hospital in Rockledge, where she was listed in critical condition before surgery Monday night.

Hospital spokeswoman Merry Lynn Starling said doctors expect Henry to recover even though she suffered extensive wounds on the lower half of her face. The force of the rifle blast also nearly severed Henry's left arm, which she apparently raised in an attempt to protect her head.

Physicians did not know if the arm could be reattached or if it would have to be amputated, Starling said.

Detectives charged Carlton Roy, 56, also of Cocoa Beach, with attempted first-degree murder. Investigators said he had dated Henry, but no other information about their relationship was available.

''All I know is that he is an ex-boyfriend,'' said sheriff's spokesman Joan Heller.

Witnesses of the afternoon shooting decribed the assailant as so calm that he acted as though it was a ''business deal'' when he leveled the .30-caliber rifle and fired a single shot.

Workers at the health club said Henry was a friendly but quiet woman who frequently worked out at the center.

''She comes in regularly and minds her own business,'' said Nautilus manager Doreen Hendricks. ''She was really very quiet.''

The shooting occurred about 2 p.m. as Henry left the fitness club and got into her car in the club's side parking lot.

Deputies said Roy's car was parked less than 15 feet away when the shooting occurred.

''I noticed this nice-looking woman leaving the club and heading to a silver car at the end of the lot,'' said a witness who asked not to be identified.

''This older guy gets out of a black car with this gun and strolled over after she got in her car. It was like something in a movie. He was real calm, like a business deal. He shot through the car window and walked away. He didn't even run.''

Another witness, John Albert, 20, said Henry tried to duck when she saw her attacker pointing the weapon at her face.

Roy was taken into custody by Deputy Fernando Dominicis and Reserve Deputy Scott Stewart, a military policeman at Patrick Air Force Base on his first day of part-time duty for the sheriff's department.

The deputies said they had just answered a call in an apartment complex across the street from the Nautilus parking lot when they saw the man identified as Roy pointing the rifle at Henry's car.

Dominicis said he and Stewart immediately drove toward the man, who had already tossed the weapon back in the front seat of his automobile when they arrived.

As the deputies ordered him to put his hands over his head, he tried to grab the rifle.